Elvis and Reese were adopted!

It was a strange weekend, but a very good one! Both Elvis and Reese, my two hardest to place fosters, found homes on Saturday. Elvis went home to a great young couple who decided they were ready for their first pet. He should be perfect for them, since he's already such a well mannered dog. Since he is so timid, it will take him awhile to settle in, but he seemed very comfortable around the couple at PetSmart so I am hoping it will not be a difficult transition for him (or for them!) Reese also found a home, and was chosen by a young girl who saw her and fell in love. It sounds like Reese will be a happy dog in her new home. The family agreed to let me go visit her in a couple weeks just to make sure everything is working out for everyone but I am hoping that everything will work out perfectly.

None of my kittens were adopted, and Lacy was not adopted either. I took Lacy to the Juvenile Diabetes walk in Forest Park on Sunday, and she had a great time. I was afraid I was going to have to carry her on the last part of the 3 mile walk though - she got very tired! She wore her adopt-me vest, and a couple people asked about her, so it was good advertising for Heartland, in addition to being good for Lacy to go out and meet new dogs and new people. She did very well with everyone, and enjoyed the post-walk hot dog that they provided.

I'm also happy to report that Lana, another one of Kiya's puppies, found a home. Her five puppies lived at my house for a few weeks when they were very young, so I am always extra-concerned about them. We're down to just two - Cody and Scout - that still need homes! It was very surprising that Lana was chosen because we also had the nine lab/border collie puppies there, and they are so cute. I thought if anyone was looking for a puppy they'd want one of those, but surprisingly, none of them were adopted. It was kind of sad to load up all 9 puppies again and take them back to their kennel. I hope next week we have better luck getting them homes.

New Pictures

I came home tonight and found all three kittens sleeping on different levels of the cat tree, so I just had to take a picture and wake them up! :-) That's Astro on top, Buttercup in the middle, and Blaze in the hammock on the bottom.

This next picture is from about a week ago. I apologize for the poor photography, but once I get the camera out, the dogs always seem to think that means they should come stand directly on my feet to make sure I don't get a decent picture of them. So I had to take this quick, before Bailey moved. This is her and Astro curled up together in the crate. Both Astro and Blaze like to take naps in the dogs crates on a regular basis, so I think Astro was probably there first and Bailey decided to go join him for a nap. They were so cute together!

It's those cute moments, which happen several times a day, that make me put up with the not so cute moments. In this next picture, this is what I found when I got home from work one day last week. There was nothing else to do about it, so I just had to laugh!

My husband had left the animals upstairs while he went down to work in the basement, and the animals kept themselves busy deconstructing a dog bed! At first I thought it was probably Reese's doing - but then I realized the truth...

It was BLAZE!*

My friend Julie says that Blaze gets a bad rap, and that he's actually a wonderful cat. But now that you've seen the proof for yourself, can you really believe that?!

.

.

*Of course, I joke about this, but with my luck someone will visit my blog who was thinking about adopting Blaze, and decide not to because of my idea of humor! :-O

Busy weekend ahead

It's been a pretty busy week. Monday night I took Lacy to visit some people who saw her at the Dardenne Prairie Days event last weekend, and see how she did with their dog. She did very well, and got along great with the other dog, but the family wasn't sure they were ready to make the commitment of having a second dog just yet. I'm glad they were willing to give it some thought, because the impulse decisions that people often make for something that will be a 10-20 year commitment is always scary. But I think this family decided they weren't ready for a second dog, so this weekend Lacy will be back at PetSmart, trying again to find a home.

I also received an application from someone interested in adopting Astro this week. They're coming to see him on Saturday, so hopefully Astro will be going home!

Yesterday I visited another foster mom and helped to take care of some of the dogs. I got to play with these adorable puppies - aren't they cute?! They're making their first trip up to PetSmart on Saturday. There are actually NINE of them, and they all look almost identical!

Tonight I'm going to help get ready for our Heartland garage sale on Saturday. I have a lot of donations to drop off and will hopefully gather a few more things from my house to add to the list. All the proceeds of the garage sale will go to support Heartland.

Saturday I will be at PetSmart all day, hopefully getting a few animals adopted, and then Sunday I'm going to the Walk for Diabetes in Forest Park to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. After that, I'm going apple picking, a family tradition, in Grafton, IL. It should be a fun weekend!

Remi, Bailey and Smitty

A lot has happened in the past week! But the story with Remi actually goes back several months. My stepdaughter was visiting for the summer, and she had these three magnetic bouncy balls, slightly smaller than a raquetball. They were fun to play with, and Remi thought so too. He grabbed one in his mouth and ran off with it. I ran after him into the living room, and asked him to "drop it". He likes to play a game where he refuses to drop something once he gets it. But this time, he immediately opened his mouth, and had nothing in it! I was right behind him, and didn't see the ball anywhere, but it was too big for him to swallow (wasn't it?) so I figured it must have rolled away. I checked under all the furniture, and everywhere it might have disappeared but couldn't find it! I was slightly worried, and told my husband what happened. He agreed with me that it was too big for Remi to swallow and I must just be overlooking it somewhere. I was still a little worried, but I kept an eye on him and he was fine. Well, it should be no surprise what they found in his stomach when they did the surgery - the missing ball! It took a few months to make him sick, but it appears that was the cause of his being ill. So they removed it, and he went home to recover. He's had a tough recovery - he had to go back to the vet on Friday because he had an infection and still wasn't moving or eating. But I'm happy to say that he's doing much better now. He is eating and walking around and appears on his way to a full recovery.

I only went to PetSmart for a short time on Saturday since Remi wasn't feeling well, but it was long enough for Bailey to find a home. I knew she would be adopted right away - we had several applications on her as soon as she was put on the website. She's just an adorable puppy! She went home with a family that has two other dogs and some very cute kids for her to play with.

I'd also like to introduce my newest foster, who's already been adopted. Weird, isn't it? I brought him home on Wednesday night, and he was adopted on Saturday afternoon. His name is Smitty, and he's an orange and white tabby cat. He's been on our website for awhile, and I just loved him from the moment I met him. He is one of those ultra-friendly cats that likes people, other cats, dogs, and pretty much everything. I thought he'd fit in perfectly at my house, so I asked his foster mom to let me take him home for awhile. It turned out to be a very short while, since we received a phone call on Saturday asking if someone could meet him. The lady who wanted him has several dogs and another cat, and also thought Smitty would be a perfect fit. She met him on Saturday afternoon, and just like me she fell in love and adopted him right then! So I only had Smitty a few days, but I want to add him to my blog so I never forget him. This is Smitty...

He did great at my house for the short time he was there. He got along great with the other kittens and with all the dogs. And I think my husband even liked him a little bit! Or at least he didn't dislike him as much as he dislikes the kittens. :-)

Speaking of kittens, I still have Blaze, Astro and Buttercup. Blaze is always the problem kitten - although I love him anyway! Now he's into his hair pulling stage. The more experienced cat foster moms advise me that he will outgrow this - I can't wait! But still he's ultra friendly and so laid back - I love that nothing ever phases him. Astro is my perfect kitten. He has the best expressions, and is just so cute! He likes to sleep in the dog crate on the fleece pad. He also has been known to curl up with Bailey on the dog bed. He's turned into a cuddly little guy, and I adore him. Buttercup is still very shy, but she's improved so much. She'll roam the house now and not worry too much about the dogs, but she is the first to run if a noise or something else startles her. She also loves to be petted but is still insecure about being picked up. I have to let her come to me on her terms in order for her to stick around and be petted. All in all, I have three pretty great foster kittens at the moment.

Update on Remi

Well, the vet just called, and Remi apparently ate something he shouldn't have. Whatever it is has metal on the inside, so it showed up on the x-rays. Its stuck somewhere in his digestive tract, so now he's going to have to have surgery to remove it. I was afraid to ask how much it was going to cost, but I'm glad that at least they can make him better. They have to get him hydrated first, and then he's going to have surgery this afternoon. Poor dog. I can't imagine what he ate - maybe a cat toy or something like that. He is so big, that he can fit really large items into his mouth!

Everyone to the vet!

At least that's the way it feels today! I took Bailey in to the vet this morning to get spayed, microchipped, vaccinated, etc. I also ended up taking my dog Remi in, because he's sick. I won't gross you out with the details, but let's just say my husband spent a lot of time cleaning carpets yesterday, because Remi couldn't make it outside in time. Lucky me, I was at work and got to miss all that! The vet fit him in even though I didn't have an appointment for him, so I'm anxiously waiting to hear what they find out. In addition to the dogs, I am taking in my own cat and one of my foster cats this afternoon to get checked out. I also might take in Lacy since she needs to get her stitches out from her spay surgery last week. I might as well get everyone in and out at once!

I finally broke down and bought a Gentle Leader head collar for Remi. I heard about these a long time ago, but wasn't too sure about them. The books I originally read about dog training and dog care had mixed reviews, and I'm not usually one to try the newest fad (even if they have been around for a few years!). Since Remi is stronger than I am, I can't walk him on a regular collar and leash, so my husband and I opted to get a prong collar for him when we first got him. Those are more of a classic training collar, and it allowed me to walk him and hold him back if he saw another dog or rabbit or something he wanted to go after. He responded well to it, and it worked so I kept putting off trying one of the head collars even though I kept hearing good things about them. Well, I finally decided it was time to at least try a friendlier method of walking Remi. I got the Gentle Leader a few days ago - along with some other very fun training supplies - and tried it out the same night. It is AMAZING! I am so happy I bought it - it works great! I've only used it on a couple of short walks so far, but so far he has been perfect - he doesn't pull me around, he seems very comfortable with it on, and when he's seen something he wants to go after, I've been able to redirect him without having to yank on the leash or cause him pain. I am a huge fan of this collar. I will stick to the flat collar on most of the dogs, but on dogs that are too strong for me to walk easily, this will be my first choice of training collars from now on. It actually makes me look forward to taking Remi for walks again!

One of my other fun training supplies I bought is called a clicker+. Clickers, just like head halters, were one of those things I felt like hadn't been around long enough to be proven. People have been training dogs for decades without needing a little box that makes a clicking noise. Besides, I have enough to worry about with a leash and treats! But once I started learning more about clicker training, I changed my mind. There are several scientific studies (those always help convince me - something measurable and proven to work) that show how much better animals respond to a consistent noise made right at the time of wanted behavior. And while I was doing the same thing with a verbal cue (saying "Good" each time the dog did the desired behavior), a mechanical noise that sounds the same each time is clearer and easier for a dog to understand. So, I started shopping for clickers. And one of the problems with training more than one dog at a time is that the click can be confusing since each dog isn't sure when its "being clicked". So since I like gadgets, and since I am usually training more than one dog at a time, I just had to buy this clicker+, which is an electronic clicker that makes four different clicking noises! It's easier to use than a typical box clicker because I don't have to worry about holding the clicker backwards or upside down and not being able to click at the right time. And its fun because I can give each dog a different kind of click. It also has different volume levels which is nice since Elvis is scared of loud clicks (surprise), but loud clicks are better for outdoors or when there is a lot of noise in the house. So I'm having a great time playing with my new dog training supplies. I've heard you can even train cats with a clicker, but I've got to figure out dog training with a clicker first.

Poor Elvis...

Elvis, my wonderful scaredy-dog, is having a rough time at my house. He is such a wonderful foster, but I feel bad for him because he is scared of almost everything. With all of the dogs and cats at my house, plus my husband, he just doesn't seem very happy. Keep in mind, this is the dog who is scared of cute little fluffy kittens - so it doesn't take much to worry him. He spends most of his time running away from the cats, the other dogs, and mostly my husband. I have tried to ask Dave (my husband) to work with him, but he's a stereotypical male who thinks showing fear is a sign of weakness (he proudly admits this) and therefore he doesn't like Elvis. It doesn't help that Elvis howls and barks non-stop whenever Dave comes into the house. I keep telling Dave that he's supposed to be helping Elvis to be more adoptable - not making him worse!! And sometimes he tries, but that actually makes things worse instead of better. His idea of helping is to walk directly toward Elvis saying "it's okay" - following him into a corner when he runs away and then leaning over him and petting him. The reason this is so bad is because dogs see someone approaching them directly as aggressive. They also see someone following them when they try to get away as aggressive. They also see someone leaning over them and touching them when they don't want to be touched as aggressive. In other words, even though Dave THINKS he's helping, he's actually scaring Elvis even more. I've tried to explain this to him, but haven't quite gotten through to him yet.

It's amazing how much I've learned recently about dogs and body language. They respond more to how you move than they do your voice. There was a customer's dog at PetSmart that got out of his collar on Saturday and ran out into the parking lot. Six months ago if I saw that, I would have started walking toward the dog, doing exactly what Dave did, and saying "it's okay, come here puppy", and chances are, the dog would have bolted. Instead, I bent down into a crouch, turned my body away from the dog, looked back toward him but not directly at him, and called him in a high-pitched happy voice "come here puppy!" and he came right to me! I've asked Dave to do that, in conjunction with some really good treats, and I think Elvis would get over his fear of him pretty quickly. But so far I haven't convinced him. Sigh. Elvis really needs a quieter foster home. He still likes to play with Lacy, but he's back to only playing out in the backyard and hiding in the house all the time. The only time he gets excited is if I pick up a leash. I take my time before I put it on him because I love to see him all excited and bouncing around looking forward to a walk or a car ride. I want him to be like that all the time. He sleeps on the floor right next to the bed, and if the other dogs aren't around he will climb up on the bed with me. But as soon as another dog comes in the room, or a cat, or a person, he's back down in the corner next to the bed. He won't eat unless there's no one else around - he runs away from his food if another dog comes over to it, or a cat. I feed him in another room often because otherwise the other dogs get his food before he ever eats it. Even when I bring out the really good treats for training, he'll hang around in hopes of me going to him, but he won't come to me with all the other dogs around. (He has learned to sit for a treat as long as no one else gets too close to him.) I hope he finds another home soon, either a foster home or a permanent home, that will be good for him. He's such a good, well-mannered dog and he will make someone a great pet, if I can just find the right person. In the meantime, I'll keep trying new things to help him be less worried all the time, and I'll keep working on my husband too!

Slow day today...

I'm so weird - every week, around Wednesday or Thursday, I start looking forward to going to PetSmart on Saturday. By Friday night, I'm so excited that the next day is a PetSmart adoption event! And then by the end of the day on Saturday, I'm just tired and usually want nothing to do with dogs or cats! I start thinking "I really need to take a week off" - but then by Wednesday or Thursday, I can't wait for Saturday again! Weird, I know.

This week, we had two dog adoptions - one was Teddy, an adorable Pomeranian. He had an old injury that caused him to not use one of his back legs anymore, but he gets around just fine on three legs. He went to a home that sounds like it will be perfect for him. Our other dog that was adopted was Heidi, a dachshund mix puppy. Overall, it wasn't a great day for dog adoptions. Only two adoptions, and none of my fosters went home. It was Lacy's first week at PetSmart, and she did great, just as I had expected. She is happy to greet everyone, and very friendly and easy-going. Noah (oops, I mean Elvis - thanks Lisa!) was scared as usual, and hung out at the back of his crate wishing everyone would go away. Reese was her normal quiet self. She usually just naps the entire day. She seems to be saying to me "you can take me here, but you're wasting your time because I'm going home with you again at the end of the day, so I might as well ignore everyone and nap until its time to leave". Granted, she probably doesn't think in those terms - but that's definitely the impression she gives to people while she's there!

In happier news, one of my cats was adopted - sort of. I mentioned before that I was cat-sitting for another foster home - a kitten named GiGi. Well, she got adopted! This is a Very Good Thing, because last Saturday I also brought home her identical twin sister Buttercup. However, my husband didn't know this, and since Buttercup was shy, she spent most of her time hiding under the bed in the kitten's room, so there was really no need to tell him. The thing is, in the past few days she's become much more comfortable in the house, and has started not only coming out from under the bed, but actually coming into the rest of the house where I usually am, and the dogs are, and my husband usually is. So far I had been lucky because she looks just like GiGi, and they were never in the same place at the same time. But it was just a matter of days until my luck ran out and he realized there were actually four kittens here instead of three. He's already been complaining quite a bit about having three kittens, so I am VERY happy that GiGi got a home and he'll never need to know that Buttercup isn't actually GiGi. :-)

You may have heard me talk about Kermit in the past - he's one of the foster dogs from Heartland that I am crazy about. Believe it or not, I actually do have a few favorites other than my own foster dogs! He's been in foster care for a long time, and I really want him to get a home. So I helped him write his own web page, and I'm going to post some flyers in the area to try to reach a few more people and tell them about this great dog. I think I am drawn to him so much because I can sort of relate to him - I'm pretty clumsy myself. :-) He deserves his own home with his own family, and I just can't believe that there isn't someone out there who would be perfect for him. So please check out his web page, and pass the link on to anyone you know who may be able to give Kermit the great home that he deserves! http://www.hhsrescue.com/kermits-page.html

My Blog

I've been writing this blog for awhile now, and while it started out just as a record for me to keep of all the dogs I fostered, it appears that other people actually read it from time to time! So because of that, I'd like to know what YOU like to read about. I created a poll at the bottom of the page (scroll ALL the way down), and I will try to gear more posts to whatever it is that you're interested in. And of course, e-mail comments are always welcome as well - as long as they're positive. :-)

Update on my fosters

The good news is that Leonard was adopted! The bad news is that I took 7 dogs and 3 cats (not all mine!) to PetSmart on Saturday morning, and left at the end of the day with all of them. It was rather depressing that none of them found homes. I am hoping that next week goes better. Lacy will be ready for adoption next week as long as everything goes smoothly at the vet, and I hope she will be a quick easy adoption. Right now my other fosters are turning out to be longer-term fosters for various reasons. Elvis is so scared of everything that he needs a very special home to work with him. And Reese is great except that she resource guards, which means if she gets a chew bone, she doesn't want to share, so that limits the families that can adopt her (no small children). Even Bailey, my adorable little boxer puppy, should get adopted quickly once she's ready, but she still has to wait for two more weeks before she can get her next vaccination. So at the moment I have four fosters, and another dog that I'd already offered to take as soon as I have room. Is there anyone out there who wants to foster?! We'll find the perfect dog for you - you only have to foster one - the part where you become insane and foster 3 or more at a time comes much later. :-) If interested, visit http://www.hhsrescue.com/ or e-mail me at dogfostermom@aol.com

Here are some new pictures of Lacy that I took this weekend.

She is such a great dog - very friendly and loving. She is definitely a basset mix of some sort - notice the shorter ears? She also doesn't have that typical basset hound bark - I was slightly disappointed about that, but it might actually make it easier for her to get adopted. :-) I love the zig-zag pattern on her back. She is doing well with her house-training and gets along great with all the other dogs and cats.

Pictures!

My husband took these pictures one day last week while I was at work. The dogs seem to be comfortable...

Bailey sleeping.


Remi sleeping - good thing he gets the loveseat to himself - no one else would fit!


Reese sleeping?!

I'm starting to wonder if he drugs them when I'm not there! :-)

Here is a picture of my newest foster - Lacy!


And here is another picture of Bailey - she's just so cute, I can't help but love her! We think she's a boxer mix, and almost 11 weeks old now.


This is a picture of my new toy. I bought it for the cats, but I have more fun watching them play on it than they probably do actually playing! :-) It's the coolest cat tree, with hammocks and ladders and hidey-holes and dangling mice, and its almost 7 feet tall!. All the kittens seem to enjoy it too!


Here is a new picture of Astro, my flood kitten. I love his expression in this picture!


Here is Blaze, being "king of the world".


Here is my newest kitten - GiGi! She is actually from another foster home, but they haven't had as much luck as I have getting their kittens adopted recently, and since I was down to just two, I offered to keep this one at my house until she finds a home. Isn't she pretty? She's the same age as Astro, and she's sooo friendly. She's brave enough to come out around all the dogs and cats, and just wants to lay in my lap and purr.

Introducing Lacy

Okay, I don't have a new picture yet, but I just couldn't wait to tell you about my newest foster dog. I wrote about her last week, and picked her up yesterday. Lacy's story is all too common, and yet it still makes me sad. Her owners lived in a mobile home that they rented, and they left town and left Lacy behind. She lived outside until some neighbors called the landlord and reported the dog being left. Now in most cases, a landlord would call the city to pick up the animal. Since this took place in a small town in Lincoln County, the dog would most likely have ended up at a small outdoor pound for a short time and then been euthanized. However, Lacy was lucky. This landlord cares about animals, and instead of just calling the city to deal with the problem, she started making phone calls on Lacy's behalf. She had a neighbor of the people who abandoned Lacy provide Lacy with food and water until she could be given a home, and she put out the word with rescue groups that Lacy needed help. I posted about this, trying to find someone to help her. Another foster mom read the post and said she could make room for Lacy at her house, even though she has several other dogs right now. So Lacy was going to escape the fate of so many other abandoned dogs. The landlord didn't stop there - she picked up Lacy, took her to the groomers to get her cleaned up, and then made a donation to help with Lacy's medical care. Lacy couldn't have asked for a better human to help her out - a far cry from the humans who were supposed to be caring for her but left her to fend for herself instead! Now Lacy is a Heartland dog, and she's temporarily living at my house. She'll go to the vet and get spayed, microchipped, vaccinated and all that good stuff, and then be ready for adoption. She'll go to a new home where she will never have to worry about being left again! This is the happily-ever-after that so many dogs don't get. And I love being a part of making it happen - its the best thing about fostering!

One interesting thing about Lacy is the effect she's had on Elvis. It's always a little bit scary to bring home a new dog, because I never know how they will react to my other dogs, or how my other dogs will react to them. The "correct" way to do it, according to some dog training experts, is to take several weeks to introduce the dogs gradually. Let them be aware of each other but never close together to start off. This is fine when introducing a new dog to your own family, but it doesn't work so well for fosters. I might only have a dog for a couple of weeks, and if I keep them separated from my own "pack" the whole time, they might not get any attention at all! So I think, even though it is stressful on the dog to just join in the pack right away, it is more stressful to be left alone for so much time. Dogs are pack animals, and while they crave social contact, they especially crave contact with humans. We've bred this into them, and I think the worst thing you can do to a dog is to lock it away and ignore it. This is what many people do when they have "outside" dogs. I'm not against dogs being outdoors, but if you spend your life inside, your dog is most likely going to want to be inside too! Anyway, for most dogs, the one thing they want is to be with people. I think this is especially true of the dogs I've brought home because they've been locked away in shelters or cages or left outdoors alone in most cases. So I just introduce them to my pack right away, and so far its been fine. I'd like to claim it is because I'm a strong "pack leader" but actually its probably just because I've had all good well-socialized dogs so far! Besides, my dog Remi wouldn't hurt anyone, but he is very intimidating to other dogs because he's so big, so that usually puts a stop to most dogs thinking they want to start trouble. Anyway, back to Elvis. I introduced Lacy to Bailey first, because she's small and definitely not threatening. Of course, Bailey is a 10 week old puppy, so the one thing she IS, is annoying! :-) Immediately she started jumping all over Lacy and trying to lick her face, and Lacy didn't like that! She growled at her to warn her off. So, with that introduction not going quite as smoothly as I hoped, I put Bailey back in the house and brought out Remi and Elvis. It went surprisingly well - within about 5 minutes she was running around the yard with Elvis playing! The VERY surprising part, is that when they all went inside, Elvis still wanted to play -- he even picked up a toy!! I know this sounds silly, but he has never ever touched any of the dog toys since he came to my house. He'll go outside and play chase/tag with the other dogs in the back yard, but he doesn't touch the toys out there, and he doesn't want to play or touch the dog toys inside either. Until Lacy - now he's running around inside, barking, smiling, playing with a ball, and generally acting like a fool - I think he's in love! Lacy seems equally taken with him - its great to watch!

Oh, Reese hasn't met Lacy yet because she got adopted on Wednesday, but she's being returned tomorrow because it turns out the guy who adopted her lives in a condo and they changed their rules recently to not allow pit bulls. Sigh - it was such a good match, so I'm sorry for both Reese and the guy that it didn't work out. Anyway, she'll get to meet Lacy tomorrow night I guess. Tomorrow I'm leaving Elvis home from PetSmart because he doesn't like it there, and I'm going to take some dogs from one of the other foster homes. Their foster mom just had a baby so she is quite busy at the moment! Hopefully we can get a few of those dogs adopted and maybe even a few of my kittens!

Gidget was adopted!

Gidget, and several other dogs and puppies, were all adopted at PetSmart this weekend. It was a great day for dog and cat adoptions! The best news of all is that two of Kiya's puppies were adopted! I was so worried about them ever finding homes. They're cute, but going to be such large dogs, and many people don't seem to want large dogs. This was their third or fourth trip to PetSmart and no one had ever been interested in them before this week, so getting two of them adopted is wonderful! I'm happy they will have their own families now. Only three of Kiya's puppies are left without homes. The other great news is because of all these adoptions, one of the other foster homes has room for Lacy now! So Lacy the basset hound will be saved!

Basset Hounds!

I have never fostered a basset hound, but I want to one day! They sound like great dogs - according to dogbreedinfo.com, basset hounds are sweet, gentle, devoted, peaceful and naturally well-behaved - that's my kind of dog! :-) We have Leonard, a great basset hound currently available for adoption. The website says he's adopted at the moment, but he's actually still available, so if you know of someone looking for a great basset hound to adopt, please let them know. Here is Leonard:

And here is his information:

Leonard, male, Basset Hound, tri-color with ticking, Date of Birth: 7/30/06, weight: 42 lbs.
Calling all Basset lovers . . . here is Leonard! If you have never had a Basset Hound, be sure to research the breed. He is such an affectionate, sweet, all-American Basset Hound, but make sure the Basset bark is one you can love (also the sloppy kisses, and dripping water from the water bowl). Leonard was lingering in a rural dog pound. Leonard loves other dogs (big and little, old and young), cats of all sizes and shapes, and people. Leonard would be happiest in a home with a fenced yard and another canine companion (dog- friendly, canine companion, of any size or age) for company. Leonard adores children of any age, in addition to adults. Leonard is house trained. He would do best in a home that does not require crating (he's awfully long and seems to hate the closeness of a crate). Potential adopters should be aware that he does like resting on a couch and/or dog bed (depending on the comfort-factor of either!) Leonard's adoption fee is $200. Tag #5714KD

In addition to Leonard, we got a call from a lady who needs to find a home for another basset hound named Lacy. This dog was left behind when some people moved out of state, and has nowhere to go. I want to take her, but with 5 dogs right now I just can't. All of our other dog foster homes are full also. If I get some of my current fosters adopted, and Lacy hasn't yet been taken to a shelter and euthanized, I'll go get her. If you know of someone who'd be interested in fostering Lacy, or one of my current foster dogs, to give us room to take her, please let me know. Here is a picture of Lacy:


And here is her information:

Lacy is approximately 1.5 years old, has been vaccinated, weighs about 40-45 pounds. She is super sweet and just wants to be loved. She loves children and other dogs. She is not 100% housebroken, so she would need a little work there. She is pretty good most of the time but does have a few accidents. She came from a home where people didn't pay attention to her and she is the sweetest sweetest dog! If you'd be interested in fostering Lacy for Heartland Humane Society until she can be placed for adoption, please visit http://www.hhsrescue.com/ and fill out a foster home application.

Introducing Gidget and Bailey

Gidget has been a Heartland dog for awhile now - she came in from a breeder who had to give up some of their dogs, and she's now ready for adoption. It's a long story why I have her, but the short version is that she's adorable and ultra-loving and being at my house is good for her to practice living in a sort-of normal home. She can work on her house-training some more and I can hopefully help to identify what she needs in a home to make sure she finds a perfect home for her. Here are pictures of Gidget:








I don't imagine that I will have her for long - she'll probably be adopted by this weekend! But I am definitely enjoying whatever little time I have with her. She follows me everywhere, and wants to be held all the time. She smiles at me whenever she sees me too!





The other dog I brought home last night is the puppy I talked about before. The people who have been keeping her called her Angel, but since I already fostered an Angel this year, I am calling her Bailey instead. She'll most likely be renamed again by her new owners, but for now I'll teach her to answer to Bailey. She is a very smart little puppy - and as I said before, soooo cute!!



The people who had been keeping her were so sad to give her up - they are even thinking about moving to another place so they can keep her. I promised them she'd go to a great home though if they can't keep her. She's already settled in very quickly, and slept in our bed with us and Reese last night. She looks a bit like Reese - sort of a mini-Reese. I thought about calling her Reese's Pieces. ;-) They are having a great time playing together!




And finally, I couldn't take pictures of all my foster dogs this morning and not include Elvis!

Fundraiser at Applebee's, New puppy!

Don't forget, this Wednesday (August 27th) is our Applebee's fundraiser. Just print out this flyer: http://heartlandhumanemo.homestead.com/DiningToDonate.html and enjoy a meal at Applebee's anytime between 5pm and 9pm. Give the flyer to your server, and 15% of the bill will be donated to Heartland. It's a great way to donate just by enjoying a family dinner at a restaurant!

Also, one more piece of news I can't wait to share.... I am going to be fostering a new puppy! A very nice lady found a puppy stuck in a fence near her home, and so she rescued it and took it to the vet. I talked to her while I was at PetSmart yesterday and she said her landlord wouldn't allow them to keep the dog, so of course I volunteered to take it. If you meet this puppy, you'll understand why. For me it was love at first sight. I will post pictures and more details of the new puppy soon.

Jade was adopted!

Great news - Jade has found a home! She was adopted by a very nice family, and they have promised to throw a lot of tennis balls for her to chase. I am so glad she found such a good home. I was worried about her because even though she's friendly and well behaved, she still started out with three strikes against her - she's a large dog (most people want small ones), she's a black dog (always the hardest to adopt out), and she's high energy (too much for many people to keep up with). So when I received an e-mail from someone inquiring about Jade, my first thought was that "they must mean someone else". I found out that they had recently lost a dog that is very similar to Jade (beautiful lab mix named Mickey), and they were ready to add another dog to the family. I'm so glad they picked Jade - she has had a rough first year of her life, and I hope she only has great years ahead of her with her new family.

Jade was adopted on Friday. Saturday I had Elvis, Reese and the three kittens at PetSmart. I was hopeful that one of them would also be adopted, but it was not to be. We had a very slow, hot day on Saturday. We did get Toby adopted - he was a cute little beagle puppy that never even made it onto the website because he was adopted very quickly. Remember me talking about those two adorable beagle pups I wanted to take home and keep? Toby was one of them! The other one made his first trip to PetSmart but is still waiting on his home. Also we had two other dog adoptions during the week. Buster is a cute lab/basset mix who had a great personality, and Kiya is a Pharaoh Hound mix who was the mom to the puppies that I dogsat. Kiya was the escape artist who turned out to be smarter than me - I was never able to keep her in any enclosure - she just wanted to be with people so bad! She was adopted before any of her puppies found homes! Even though Saturday was slow for dogs, today (Sunday) was a little better for me personally. I took all three kittens to PetSmart, and came home with only two! Avalanche was adopted right at the end of the day - he went home to a great family who was looking for a new kitten to spoil. The three kids begged, pleaded, and offered thousands of dollars to their parents, and who could resist that? So Avalanche, my favorite kitten ever, now has his very own family to give him a lot of love and attention.

Monkee was adopted!

Monkee found a home while I was gone on vacation. I'm so happy for her! I heard she went to live with a family that has a dog and a 1-year-old cat, so she should have plenty of playmates there. Now I'm down to three kittens left to find homes. I still have Elvis, Jade and Reese (the dogs) to find homes for as well. Someone is interested in Jade, and someone else is interested in Reese, so maybe one of those homes will work out - we'll see. They were all very happy to see me when I got home from Florida last night. I think that they missed me! Hopefully one of them will find a home at PetSmart on Saturday.

I've been interested in dog training since I first got Remi almost two years ago. I became more interested as I began fostering dogs and found out how much fun it is to teach them, and how much nicer it is to have well behaved dogs! :-) I've finally decided to do more than read every dog training book I can find, and have applied to the Companion Animal Sciences Institute. I had planned to enter the program to earn a diploma in dog training, but they also have a diploma in Shelter and Rescue Work, and that sounds really interesting as well. I'm going to maybe try to earn both. Between working full time and taking care of my fosters, I don't have a lot of time left - but, this sounds like a great way to spend my free time. My husband has almost given up on me ever cooking for him again anyway. :-) It's a distance education program, so I could work through the classes at my own pace, especially on my lunch hour. I pretty much earned my entire MBA by doing schoolwork on my lunch hour, so it won't be anything new. I'm really excited about the idea!

New Pictures

I took a few pictures at PetSmart last Sunday and thought I'd share them here....

This is Elvis - usually Sundays are just for cat adoptions, but he came up to be our "donation dog" since none of the cats can wear the donation vest. :-) I'm reading a very interesting book that talks about how to recognize your dog's emotions. It is called "For the Love of a Dog" by Patricia McConnell. It's amazing how much more I can understand about Elvis just from reading this book. For example, one of the signs of anxiety in dogs is if they keep their mouth closed and do "tongue licks" a lot. Elvis does this all the time - and now that I realize it, I have noticed he mostly does it when something is changing in his environment (my husband comes home from work, for example). I'm anxious to learn to "read" him better in order to help him be happier. I know some things to do for dogs who are anxious, but it doesn't do me any good if I don't know at the time that they ARE anxious! So this book is awesome. I'm definitely not a natural at reading body language and will need to work at it, and I'm glad to have a book to help me!

Here's a picture of Monkee. She is staying up at PetSmart while I'm on vacation, and I hope she finds a home while I'm gone. I'm wondering if she's going to turn out like Spock, my old cat. Spock would let my neice, or anyone else, pick him up and carry him around upside down or however they wanted, and he'd purr the entire time. Monkee has been picked up in an "uncomfortable way" by children a few times at PetSmart, and she just purrs and seems to enjoy it just like Spock!

This is Blaze - he used to be such a tiny kitten! Now he's getting to be bigger than my own cat George (and he looks a lot like him too). I keep saying one of these days I'm going to accidentally take George to PetSmart for adoption instead of Blaze. Blaze is awesome - he's stopped climbing up on people like they are trees, and is usually happy to just lay around now. Maybe he's starting to outgrow his kitten playful period? He has the most personality of all my cats - he just is this giant laid-back kitten, and nothing phases him. He doesn't seem to mind dogs, other cats, vaccum cleaners, or anything! He purrs whenever I pick him up and pet him, and likes to be held and cuddled for awhile, but then is happy just sitting back and watching the rest of the action. And not from the sidelines either - he'll lay down right in the middle of the living room floor and watch the action go on all around him! He's great. :-)

This is Tommy, another foster cat (not mine) waiting to be adopted. He's very soft and such a pretty cat. I like orange cats a lot - maybe because they remind me of Garfield (my favorite cartoon cat of all time). :-) If I ever foster an orange cat I'm going to have to name him Garfield. Hmmm... next time I foster a yellow (?!) dog I will have to name it Odie! :-)

And that's it for now! I leave tonight for the sunny shores of Florida, and maybe by the time I get back, one of my fosters will have a new home! I told them all good-bye before I left just in case.

Someone finally claimed Max

Turns out that Max's name is actually "Blue", and his owners finally called and said they saw the signs and they want their dog back. I am so sad for him. They didn't say why they didn't bother calling before now (the signs were removed two days ago). Even after I talked to them earlier this evening, they wanted to wait until tomorrow night to come get him - obviously they aren't dying to have him back. They live on the street where the signs were posted, and where he was found, so its not like he wandered far from home and they were looking in the wrong place. I don't want to give him back. I almost never cry when my fosters get adopted because I know they're going to a good family and I'm happy for them - but I've been crying half the day because Max is leaving and I don't think he's going somewhere that he'll be happy or well cared for. I know there are so many dogs out there that have much worse owners than Blue does, but those dogs haven't been living at my house for the past 7 days, sharing my life, sleeping on my bed, and entertaining me with their antics. I think I shouldn't have invested so much in him - I shouldn't have taught him his new name or taught him to sit or spent hours playing with him and walking him and giving him treats - after all, he was never my dog. Next time someone finds a stray I should just send them to animal control and not have to worry about getting attached. But the last seven days for Blue have hopefully been very happy ones, and they wouldn't have been in a shelter. So its the least I could do for such a great dog - I just wish his future was more hopeful. I'm off to let him sleep on my bed one last night, and his owners will be here to get him in the morning.